Every year hundreds of millions of individuals worldwide suffer from serious lower gastrointestinal (GI) diseases and disorders (e.g., fecal anal incontinence/laxity, hemorrhoids, colitis) requiring intervention. The technology incorporated in the design of gastrointestinal devices has seen little to no developmental progress in recent years. Indeed, biopsy forceps, polypectomy snares and fine aspiration needles have seen so little change that they are becoming commodities. Though these conventional devices remain limited in their efficacy, the incidence of these disease states continues to increase.
Many other GI disorders have a major impact on health. For example, hemorrhoids—inflamed and swollen veins in the anus or lower rectum—are extremely common, accounting for some 50 million procedures performed worldwide. The two most common office-based procedures used to treat symptomatic hemorrhoids are rubber band ligation (RBL) and sclerotherapy (SCL). RBL involves stretching an elastomeric band (that need not be rubber) about a target vein so that it constricts and substantially halts blood flow through the vein, causing it to shrivel over time, thus reducing and eliminating the hemorrhoid.